げんしけん: 二代目Chapter 98 Manga Review
Genshiken Nidaime chapter 98 Manga Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Hato leaves his apartment as Hato-chan, shadowed by Sue. At the Genshiken meeting, the club reacts to discuss Sue’s move. Sue won’t say why she moved, and no one has any idea. Rika suggests that Sue accompany Hato in place of herself and Yajima to make dinner for Madarame. So Sue does this as the others in Genshiken (sans Kuchiki) discuss the situation and cite whom they ship for Madarame to end up with.

Back at Madarame’s apartment, Hato is surprise when he learns that Sue has never been inside the apartment despite having come by Madarame’s place a few times. As Hato puts food into the fridge, Madarame remarks on Hato coming as a girl, which leads to some awkwardness when Madarame learns Hato came as a girl earlier to drop off curry and jelly. Sue breaks the silence that falls by jabbing Hato and going to the main room.

When Madarame leaves, Hato thinks that Madarame is alone with Sue, but finds Sue standing next to him, watching him prepare food. Hato realizes Sue was embarrassed to be alone with Madarame, leading Sue to jab Hato more.

Meanwhile, Madarame realizes how much the harem situation is in play by Sue’s jealousy. However, he’s troubled because there’s an element he feels is missing.  With the meal ready, Sue and Madarame find Hato’s cooking to be excellent. Since Sue normally eats convenience store meals, Madarame thinks that since the two are neighbors, they should eat together from time to time. Since Madarame isn’t getting it, Hato ups the ante and says he wants to cook for Madarame, but without Sue around.

Sue is hurt by this, but when Madarame asks about Sue coming with Hato, Sue is relieved and Hato is defeated. However, their reactions causes Madarame to realizes what he was missing before and how one little word from him can send things out of control, thus he can’t keep this harem situation going, unlike how things go in anime or manga. Hato agrees to having Sue along and even says he prefers it this way.  Thus the harem situation remained the same.

Thoughts/Review:

Man, Sue only gets one line in the whole chapter, and that was to quote Patlabor 2: The Movie.

Hato continues to aggressively (within certain bounds) push things, and Sue is just along for the ride, which saddens me. I wish Sue were a bit more aggressive in going after Madarame, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for now. And yet, Sue did move closer to Madarame, which could be seen as pretty aggressive on her part, only she ended up next to Hato.

Still, if anyone was unsure if Sue has feelings for Madarame, her sadness at Hato’s throwing down the gauntlet, followed by her obvious relief and smile when Madarame’s casual words defeated Hato’s attempt would seem to remove all doubt.

I like how Kio-sensei is taking that realistic look at a harem situation and how in real life, such things don’t work out like they do in anime and manga. Eventually, something will have to be done about the situation, which could result in Madarame not ending up with anyone.

I got a chuckle at the Genshiken members shipping their personal pairing choices for Madarame. Hurray for Ogiue being in the Sue camp, where is where I am at. ^_^

In the end, Kio-sensei keeps the harem situation going for now, which is understandable since he’ll need a way to bring Angela back into the mix (since she’s in America) and Keiko as well. Plus, with Risa coming back next chapter, I think Kio-sensei is setting Hato up with his own harem situation (Yajima and Risa) to complicate things for him.

So, an enjoyable chapter here.